Panic At The Disco
by Squiggle.giggle
Summary: "I can't live like this anymore Rick!" she heard Drew yell. 'That doesn't sound good', the teen thought. "You are so dramatic!" "I hate this!" "Go then!" Bri mishears a conversation between her parents and fears her adoption is in jeopardy Warnings Panic Attack


Hey everyone, here is a new story.

I hope you like it!

* * *

Bri was laying on her plush queen bed around mid-afternoon on a lazy Sunday, casually scrolling through her phone as she avoided working on an English essay that was due in a few days. The teen stretched out on her soft pink mink pillow and matching throw blanket as she yawned widely, she had stayed up late last night with Drew since he had the night off and she was given an 'education' of classic action movies he thought she needed to see. Action movies weren't normally her niche but she enjoyed the quality time spent with her dad.

As she was checking her Instagram she heard her dads in the kitchen, it wasn't unusual to hear them speaking loudly or even yelling; especially when they were watching sports. The teen couldn't really make out what they were saying, it didn't sound heated or as though they were arguing, just very passionate. She ignored them for the most part but when she couldn't concentrate while reading a post, she sighed in exasperation and got up to close her door.

"I can't live like this anymore Rick!" she heard Drew yell.

'That doesn't sound good', the teen thought.

"You are so dramatic!"

"I hate this!"

"Go then!" Followed by the deafening sound of the hardwood door slamming. Bri gripped her own doorframe, she needed something to hold onto before she crumbled to the ground, tears immediately starting to trickle from her deep brown eyes. Why did he leave? What did he mean he can't live like this anymore? Was it her fault?

Bri had been adopted only six months ago, she thought everything had been going perfectly. Her dads encouraging her to take dance lessons to work on strengthening her lungs, even sticking around to watch and cajole her. Drew had taken her to all of her Specialist's appointments for her post-op checks which she couldn't imagine how much it all had to cost. Rick had also become very supportive of her as she had been experimenting in the kitchen, she was used to cooking for a large number of foster siblings she had to care for, he had also become the official taste tester for all her creations which he never turned any of them down.

But maybe they couldn't handle her intrusion? She thought she had been doing everything right, she had been taking all of her medication correctly after she got in trouble for messing with them so she could stay in the hospital longer. Her fathers' relationship had been complicated from what they had told her, many years were spent apart and when they were together it was hidden away as though it was something to be ashamed of. But now they were together, proud and didn't care who knew it, maybe they were regretting the adoption and wanted to be the carefree childless couple they once were.

Bri placed a hand to her chest as she felt her breathing become erratic, her lungs contracting painfully as she gasped desperately for air. The teen stumbled back into the bedroom door, her body needing the support of something stable as she wasn't so sure how much longer she would have stability in her own life. She closed her eyes as she slid to the floor, the intrusive thoughts wreaking havoc on her body as she could feel palpitations in her ears, all her fears were tumbling out unchecked by her brain like she was in some kind of mental free-fall. Her ribs heaving as if bound by ropes, straining to inflate her new lungs. Bri's mind was like a carousel of fears spinning out of control, each one pushing her mind into blackness. The teen tried taking a deep breath to calm herself, but the breaths were sharp and shallow.

She wasn't sure when he got there, but she felt comforting hands on her shoulders, creaking one eye open to see Rick before her with a terrified expression.

"Bri, baby you need to breathe for me," Rick instructed, taking exaggerated breathes and trying to get her to mimic them. She tried hard, she really did but the overwhelming feeling of choking came over her. The last thing she remembered was seeing her dad's panicked countenance as he reached for his phone before her vision got darker and narrower and looked kaleidoscopic, like when you close your eyes and press down on your eyelids to "see stars" then nothing but dark, deep, all-encompassing blackness.

* * *

Rick grumbled under his breath as he tried his husband's phone again and received the voicemail, any other time he can't pry the man away from the device. He pocketed his cell and looked through the private emergency room window, watching his unconscious daughter, multiple machines beeping, he tried to make sense of them but as he had said before 'I don't speak doctor'.

Rick really had no clue what had happened to his daughter, after Drew's overdramatic departure he thought he would treat Bri and himself to the new French cafe that had opened up a few miles down the road. It looked ridiculously overpriced but he was craving some sweet pasties and knew his girl would jump at the chance for more dessert inspiration.

He was immediately concerned when he saw Bri slumped against her bedroom door, hand to her chest and struggling to breathe. Before he could do anything she had blacked out and remained unconscious despite all his efforts. He wasn't sure if it was her lungs or allergic reactions so he called an ambulance. They assured him she would be ok but needed to run some tests before they would have an answer.

His phone started ringing from his pocket and let out an exasperated "finally" when he saw his husband's name flash across the screen.

"Hey babe, I'll be home soon. I left my phone in the car at the store but I'm just grabbing something from my office then I'll head home," Drew greeted, he could hear papers being shuffled on the other end.

"Wait, you're at the hospital?"

"Yeah."

"Come down to the Emergency Room, I'm here with Bri".

* * *

Drew asked way too many questions from his phone as he jogged from his office to one of the trauma rooms where his daughter was being treated.

"What happened?" Drew asked as he hung up his phone and moved passed his husband and into the room. He checked on the monitors, adjusted the speed of the IV saline drip and picked up her chart as he swiftly read through it.

"I honestly don't know," Rick admitted, he perched himself on the edge of the bed and lovingly stroked his daughter's forehead as she remained unconscious. "After you left I went to check on her and I found her gasping and struggling to breathe. I was so scared, I didn't know what to do,"

"Hey," Drew cooed, sitting himself down next to his husband and began stroking his hand in a comforting manner, "she's going to be fine. Ok see here," Drew began as he flipped the chart to the introduction of the report and began to explain it to Rick so he could understand."Her oxygen stats are perfect which means her lungs are working fine, this isn't a repercussion of her Cystic Fibrosis. This here is the x-ray report of her lungs which shows no abnormalities plus they've done bloods and swab cultures which so far show no signs of infection."

"So," Rick started in confusion, perplexed further as to what could possibly have happened to his perfect daughter "if it's not her lungs, what is it?"

"Not sure," Drew admitted, he flipped the page over and looked at the medications, "says here they gave her Diazepam and Valium- a sedative," Drew explained at his husband's quirked eyebrow. "I'm going to find one of the day shift doctors to write something up to pull her out of sedation since I can't legally write anything up myself for family." He muttered bitterly. When he went to stand Rick held firmly onto his husband's hand, still looking terrified as though he had somehow caused this, Drew leaned down and pressed a sweet lingering kiss to Rick's lips, his hand cupping the other man's cheek. "You did so well baby, I'm glad you were there for her." He quickly peppered the other man's face with kisses until Rick chuckled and playfully pushed him away.

The doctor grabbed the chart and strode out of the room in search of the treating physician. Rick sighed sadly as he brushed a tendril of Bri's golden hair off her forehead, wondering how he could help his precious child.

* * *

An hour later, the night shift staff had all clocked on. Drew was rostered to work but they had given him the night off due to the circumstances, the doctor countered that he would remain On-Call knowing that he may be needed in any major traumas.

TC had taken over Bri's case and was more than willing to sign off anything Drew thought was best for his daughter's treatment. After injecting the medication that would reverse the anesthetic like state Bri was currently in through the IV line, they waited and watched as their daughter's eyes fluttered gently and she slowly roused from her unconscious state

"Bright," Bri rasped, her eyes sharply closing. Rick quickly turned off the room lights and closed the privacy curtain around them to block the hall's light as well. "Where am I?"

"You're at the hospital sweetheart," Drew explained as he opened the bottled water, placing a straw in and holding it to her lips to quench her thirst and help her dry throat. She tentatively took a few sips and stared at her fathers. "How are you feeling?"

"Tired."

"You had trouble breathing and passed out," Rick explained, noticing that Bri was staring at the cannula in her hand, "given your medical history the wanted to keep you overnight for observation. Does your chest hurt?"

"Oh," Bri said numbly, now only realizing that Drew had been taking her Obs since she woke and was now using his stethoscope on her back to listen to her lungs. "No, that's not why I passed out."

"What happened?" Drew asked, wrapping the stethoscope over his shoulder now satisfied with his assessment.

"I heard you fighting, I got scared and I think I had a panic attack," Bri explained, her voice becoming quiet, not meeting her fathers' eyes as she played with a loose thread on the hospital blanket.

"Fighting?" Rick asked, looking at his husband for an explanation who shrugged in response.

"You and dad were in the kitchen, I heard him say that he can't live like this anymore and you told him to leave," Bri explained, her heart rate starting to increase on the monitor, "I thought you didn't want me anymore."

"Hey sweetheart no," Drew cooed, placing a calming hand on her cheek as he tried to get her heartbeat back to a steady rhythm.

"We weren't fighting! We will always want you."

"Then what were you doing?"

* * *

Rick rolled his eyes and returned to his tablet in front of him as he heard another frustrated grunt from his husband. He was tinkering around with the toaster on the counter, Drew had accidentally pushed it off the bench a few days ago and now it refused to work like it previously had. The lever would pop up constantly or wouldn't pop up at all causing the toast to burn to a crisp charcoal mess. It was frustrating but Rick couldn't understand why he was bothering at all, the man barely ate toast, preferring oats or a protein shake in for his breakfast which was normally at 5 pm due to working the night shift.

"Drew," Rick warned as he heard a long string of swears and insults coming from the enraged man as he messed around with the inside of the toaster.

"What?" Drew asked distractedly, grabbing a butter knife and trying to unscrew the base. Rick wasn't even sure if the device was unplugged.

"Would you just stop? Go buy a new toaster, they're like $20 at Target," Rick explained as he locked his iPad and turned to watch the madness.

"No, I will not be bested by a toaster!" just as he was getting the base plate off, the knife slipped and stabbed his other hand; didn't draw blood as it wasn't sharp but it was sure to leave a decent bruise. Frustrated Drew threw the offending item across the kitchen and snapped.

"I can't live like this anymore Rick!" Drew yell.

"You are so dramatic!" Rick stated, growing bored of his antics.

"I hate this!"

"Go then!" Rick told, he unlocked his iPad again and showed the other man the website he had previously been looking at. Drew scowled at the perfectly working toasters on the screen of the Target website, he grabbed his wallet and keys and stormed out the door with a deafening sound of the hardwood door slamming behind him. Scrubbing his hands roughly over his face, Rick stood up and stretched before he went to check on Bri, deciding he needed some cake after dealing with his irate husband.

* * *

"You were fighting… over the toaster?" Bri asked slowly like it was the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard.

"Well when you put it like that," Drew said slowly, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. "I got a new one, 4 slices!"

"You're silly," Bri laughed, feeling silly herself, for getting so worked up over nothing. The family discussed the situation at length, assuring Bri that she would always be wanted and nothing and no one would ever change their minds. The teen explained her feelings, telling them about all of the foster homes she had been in, the words that had been used against her as she was growing up plus her medical condition had always made her feel different and always on the outside. Drew decided that Bri would benefit from seeing an adoption transition therapist to help with her insecurities and doubts about her new life, agreeing to all go together if that was what she wanted.

Eventually, the teen's eyes began to droop growing tired from the day's events. Rick raced home and made an overnight bag for his daughter so she would have some familiar items around her for her quick hospital stay. The girl had spent enough time in the hospital in her short life than most people ever would.

The family stayed together for an hour before Topher came looking for Drew, multiple patients were being transported to SAMH. A 50th birthday party had gone terribly wrong when numerous guests got into an altercation and pulled weapons on each other, stab wounds, GSW, broken bones were just some of the injuries he mentioned. The doctor was hesitant to leave but Bri assured him it was fine as long as she got to hear the sordid details when he returned.

* * *

Three hours later Drew was finely able to reunite with his family, the paramedics failed to mention that one of the party-goers had tried to run over another with his truck and Drew had spent the better part of an hour painstakingly removing bone fragments from the patient's rib cage before Scott and he could put him back together surgically.

Freshly showered and a clean pair of sky blue scrubs later, Drew smiled broadly at the scene he walked in on. Rick was laying on his back, one arm cushioned under his head and the other wrapped around their daughter with a tattered copy of 'The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe' propped in his hand. Bri was cuddled into his side, her head pillowed by her father's chest, hand resting lazily on his stomach as her eyes sluggishly followed along with the words he was reading aloud.

They had offered to buy her a new copy, the pages were torn, smudged and coated in spills from a lifetime of reading but she had declined as it was the only thing from her past life that brought her joy.

Drew pressed a soft kiss to both of their foreheads and sat on the hard plastic chair next to the bed, smiling to himself as Bri's eyes slowly slid shut and she fell asleep as Rick continued to read softly.

'No', Drew thought, there is nothing in the world that would make him want to give up his precious family.

THE END

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I'm working on a story on the adoption process, so if that is something that interests you let me know.

Reviews are greatly appreciated!


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